Hello everyone! Happy New Year! It has been a fun and exciting December! I took the month off to do some traveling of the outer and inner realms. My journey took me first to Todos Santos, Baja California, Mexico to the Yandara Yoga Institute. I enrolled in a 16 day 200 hour yoga teacher training course there, living in a tent and studying yoga for 15 hours a day on white sandy beaches with palm trees, crystal blue water, and huge whales! I have been a student of yoga for a little over 2 and a half years, and it has changed my life! In 2010 I healed my severely contorted spinal cord within a few months of daily practice and have since not only straightened out my spine, but have developed a new way of looking at life through a more relaxed and limber mind.
At first I was curious as to how the school would compare to my previous yoga studies. In January of 2012 I began studying Raja Yoga (see "transcendental meditation") with Ananda Sangha in Seattle, WA, and over 11 months developed a daily routine of meditation, pranayama (breath/energy control) techniques, plus the authentic, meaty yogic philosophies of India. In November 2012 I received initiation into Kriya yoga, a powerful breath technique brought to the West by the Indian guru Paramahansa Yogananda. Needless to say, my standards for the "spiritual yoga" were set high. With so many contemporary yoga schools emphasizing mere postures and calisthenics, and skipping the "real" stuff, it was something of a gamble to choose a school just because it happened to be in the same city I was visiting a friend in Mexico!
Yandara is "all that" and more! I couldn't have asked for a more comprehensive yoga school. We read the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali, covered the 8 fold Ashtanga Path (raja yoga), and sang Indian kirtan chants every night with the school band, Jaya! I have left yandara with more than the knowledge necessary to teach yoga confidently, with emphasis on adjusting and alignments, as well as many lifelong friends. I am currently teaching private lessons in Tacoma, and would love to give you a lesson! I have incorporated my didgeridoo playing into the end of yoga routines to give people relaxing and vibrationally revitalizing sound massages as well! Think of the feeling when you are in close contact to a huge bass subwoofer, and then concentrated and condensed into a tube! Something you would have to experience to truly be able to grasp!
I am in love with teaching yoga to people, as even one hour can significantly reduce stress, and teaching people how to breath deeply and diaphragmatic is important in this age of traffic, bills, appointments and expectations! If you would like a private lesson, email me at matek03@aol.com or feel free to call 253-732-8166 (Rainbow Cloud Kombucha.)
Upon graduation from Yandara, I found myself in the jungles of Southern Mexico, near the famous Mayan ruins of Palenque. Just outside of the city in the jungle gathered a few thousand people from all around the world in celebration of the end of the Mayan Calender, the December 21, 2012 solstice and the beginning of the New Age of Peace! The 2012 World Rainbow Gathering was one of the most inspiring and enchanting peaceful gatherings of people celebrating these galactic changes with community food, music, drum circles, swimming in the waterfalls and pools of the meandering jungle rivers, and Mayan shaman and elders performing their ceremonies in the public view! I was able myself to participate in 2 ceremonies with some Mayan elders and many other people from all around the world! I taught yoga to groups of people in the mornings around the main circle, and sang and danced all night the names of Shiva, Ganesha, and Krishna. Thousands of us formed circles and chanted AUM with intentions of healing the planet and the hearts of humanity! It was truly a transformational experience!
I flew home to be with my family on Christmas eve, and marked the end of an enormous and inspiring journey! I took the last week of 2012 to sit back, reflect, and jot down as much of my experiences as possible in my journal! I feel rested and recharged, and ready to man the helm at Rainbow Cloud Kombucha once more. Though I cannot get too comfortable with the business world just yet!
In February I will take hiatus again one more time for a 6 week yoga pilgrimage all across India with Ananda Sangha. We will be meditating our way around the places where the great guru Paramahansa Yogananda and his teachers lived and served God. I am sure there will be great adventures awaiting in the East! I return March 22nd, and will be ready for another season at the Downtown Tacoma Farmer's Market, and hopefully the Proctor district farmer's market! During the time I will be gone Rainbow Cloud Kombucha will be available at the Tacoma Food Co Op, and maybe a couple more stores, stay tuned!
The people of India greet each other by the word NAMASTE, meaning "The light in me, sees and recognizes the light in you." Namaste, friends!
-Matthew G. Eklund.
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